SAO: An Alternative Path
by A.LimpingGoat
Summary: Everything is AU, and different from the anime. (Don't worry there is still Kirito x Asuna) I do not own Sword Art Online or any of these characters. Please support the anime and manga.
1. Floor 1

**Hello, welcome to my first fanfic, going to continue this story for a while so I really want some feedback even if it's bad (I'm used to shame) :3 anyways, To the story! Also I put a Laughing Coffin quote try and find it first person who finds it gets to have a character in the story just say what name you want the character to be when you find it ;).**

A fourteen year old teen sat in his room waiting for SAO's server's to come online. Soon it became almost 1:00, as he put on the NerveGear he looked and saw that it was 12:59. A few seconds pass which felt like an eternity to him, it turned to 1:00. As he grinned he said his last words before being plunged into a death game: Link Start!

He began getting excited as the Virtual Reality game started up. As he appeared into the simulated world, he yelled "I'm back aincrad!" As the other players came into view, they became louder and more excited.

He met a few people in The Town of Beginnings. One person looked like they've met before... A guy named Klein, Klein wondered if the teen's name was his real one or not... Kirito.

About an hour later, Kirito acquainted somebody named Kyle, and they were hunting. Kyle had blonde hair, dark brown eyes, pale, and very skinny. So he had a good body to fight with. So they got a decent amount of col, and EXP. They ended up partying for a bit, but it ended up being dissolved because of a fight between materials from a mini boss.

So Kirito went his own way and began farming and aging EXP then it forcefully teleported him to the Town of Beginnings and the sky turned a maroon and a huge cloaked figure comes down from the sky.. It greets itself "Hello, My name is Akihiko Kayaba and some of you may have noticed the 'log out' button is missing from your menu's this is not a faculty this is how SAO was built. There is only one way out of this game to beat all one hundred floors. There is no way of escaping, if you die, you die in real life. Nobody can remove the NerveGear from your head or the NerveGear will send microwave signals to your brain and burn it out, which will kill you in an instant." Kirito listens to the worried voices an yells out "KAYABA!"Kayaba then responded with "A farwell and a good luck. You'll need it." Kirito sat there stunned. He mumbles under his breath " _I'll fight till this body can no longer move. I'll fight so no one else ever has too"_

 **1** **MONTH LATER**

Kirito meets up with Klein again when Kirito found the boss room when levelling. They put up a poster for volunteers, but only one person showed up. "So Klein, we have one person to help us, she said her name was Asuna." "SERIOUSLY KIRITO?! ONLY ONE PERSON!" Klein didn't want to die so he said he was quitting- "Klein, it's a girl." Klein responded immediately "I'm in." As they approached the boss room they avoided every monster so their HP didn't go down before they got there.

They got to the boss room, after what felt like a billion stairs Klein responded with a complaint "Kirito, Asuna, I'm already out of energy. How do you guys look fine! This is crazy!" Asuna and Kirito looked over at Klein and Kirito said " Leveling, and Klein, you can barely see Asuna's face. How do you know if she's tired or not?" Klein responded with a hmph and they opened the door to the boss room. Then they immediately got fucked up in the head. Illfang the Kobold Lord is sitting in his throne with his minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels surrounding him.

The plan was that they all work together striking the minions first, then, going after the boss and keep doing this routine till the boss gets into the red zone of the last bar, when he uses a nodachi weapon to attack. Then they all go after him and kill the rest of the Ruin Kobold Sentinels at the end.

The three started rushing at the Ruin Kobold Sentinels, Kirito attacked from the middle while Asuna and Klein attack from the sides, they killed one of them and Kirito yelled "One down! Two to go!" As they killed off the other two. Then they ran at the boss again Kirito in the middle and Asuna and Klein attacking from the sides they get one health bar down but more minions spawned. They keep doing the routine till they get to the red in the last health bar the Kobold Lord throws his weapons behind him and gets out the nodachi weapon they all begin streaking their blades from it's stomach to it's chest Asuna and Klein fell off leaving only Kirito up there as he got to the Kobold Lord's shoulder and twisted around and decapitated the Kobold Lord as it fell over and exploded into a million shards that they celebrated under.

The word "Congratulations!" Was just over them as they will remember this for the rest of their lives. Kirito got the last attacking bonus and looked like a badass with The Coat of Midnight on. Kirito decided to stay and rest some bit at the inns on floor one because he didn't want to be greeted by a new thing right away. Same with Asuna, but Klein was to hyped not to go to floor 2. Kirito and Asuna stayed and talked for a bit and eventually became friends.

Kirito and Asuna decided to spread the word so that more people know that floor 1 was beat. Soon everybody knew and Asuna and Kirito decided to stick together because they believed that they had good chemistry and worked together well even if they preferred to be solo.

 **Did you find the quote? Don't forget to say what name you want you're character to be when you find it.**


	2. Floor 2

Hello **and welcome to floor two! I will be putting much more detail into this. Also I'll be making a hundred chapters for the hundred floors.. Enjoy :D**

Kirito stepped onto the smooth grass on floor two. He thought to himself _Damn, I should have came here much earlier._ Asuna and Kirito are looking for better armor and weapons. They walk into a very vague and shady place, the lights are dimmed so it's hard to see. They found decent armor and perfect weapons for their fitting. Kirito found a sword that is one handed, slim, sharp and heavy. While Asuna on the other hand got a fast, sharp as hell rapier.

As Asuna and Kirito were farming Storm Hornets near the labyrinth, Klein came by with news, a huge guild was formed a guild and has been gaining strength over the past month and is showing no sign of stopping. "What's the name?" Kirito asked. Klein responded with a glare, "The Knights of the Blood" They both got a looked at each other and grinned. "We need to beat them" both Klein and Kirito said. Asuna interrupted the staring contest: "Does anyone else think that's a st Cupid name?" Klein began getting excited and hyper. He was more hyped than a boar when it actually lowers someone's HP

"Whoa whoa whoa, if we want to beat them to the boss Klein we can't be looking constipated every second of our lives. That's a fact." Kirito stated. asuna sighed and thought _we can't beat this game with immaturity and contests, but I'll let them have their fantasies. "_ If we want to beat them we need levels. So let's get farming." Asuna said.

 **12 hours later**

"I think we cleared this place out Kirito." Asuna said "Hey Asuna, where did Klein go" Kirito questioned "Oh he said he was going to the inn to see his friends IRL" Asuna answered as the sun gazed over head as the beautiful sunset is finishing up. "Yeah, we should get going it's getting late and I'm starving." Kirito said as his stomach rumbled and twisted. "Oh, me too, I've been working on my cooking skills. Maybe I can make it for free some day." Asuna complied "Yeah that'd be nice." Kirito responded with a yawn.

 **THE NEXT DAY 8:00 AM**

Asuna woke up to hearing snoring in the room next to her. She got up out of her worm, comfy bed onto the cold creaky floor in the inn. She put her equipment on and shuffled to Klein and Kirito's rooms knocking on both doors. Even though you couldn't hear anything over Klein's loud and obnoxious snoring. Nobody answered so she decided to find new people. She began slowly walking down the squeaky stairs of the inn, looking tired as hell. After the day of farming. She was walking around and found a girl that was really nice. Her name was Connie. Connie recognized Asuna and remembered that she beat the floor one boss. Connie asked where Kirito and Klein were. Asuna replied with "They're at the inn being lazy asses" Connie responded with a laugh. Connie said she thought she knew where the floor two boss was. So they went to the Labyrinth and tried to find the boss room.

 **1 HOUR LATER**

Asuna and Connie came back from the labyrinth and told Klein and Kirito they found the boss room. Kirito was already awake and eating at the cafe the inn provided. Kirito thanked the girl and woke Klein up to tell him about Asuna and Connie's discovery. He woke up weeping with joy. Kirito then realized how immature they were sounding but still wanted to beat the Knights of the Blood to the boss. But then heard knocking at the inn door. It was one of the Knights of the Blood members looking for Asuna and Connie. All four of them came down to see someone Kirito didn't expect to be there. It was Kyle! Kirito slowly started backing up to the top of the stairs avoiding the situation.

Kyle demanded the map to the boss room or else they would have use forcefully take it. Asuna wanting to protect their lives in this death game, gave it over. She still had it saved to her menu so if they can still beat them to the boss and kill it. Kyle left and Kirito began slowly coming back down the loud stares. They began rushing out the inn and running to the labyrinth before K.O.B could get there and kill the boss.

"The boss's name was Asterius th Taurus King. It's legs were as thick as tree trunks and has dark chainmail around his waste. When he attacks he bends backwards and breathes in and releases a long range attack that destroys anything in front of it. Just like the Kobold Lord, it goes into berserk mode once it reaches red on the last bar. Once he enters berserk mode, his back starts to feel like hot coals." Kirito explained.

"So we need to attack itself from behind until it reaches the berserk mode and attack it from the front?" Asuna questioned "Yes, that's the plan" Kirito responded. They enter the boss room and see him, Connie looks into it's eyes and she saw her worst nightmares...

"Attack!" Kirito yelled as they ran around the boss and strike his back consistently. About half way done, K.O.B walk in and it distracts Kirito, and gets heavily damaged when the Taurus King back hands Kirito making it feel like all his bones broke making his HP go down in the red zone, Asuna tries to move him out of the battle as Klein and Connie tried to hold it back but started to lean backwards, and making everything in it's path electrocuted. It just misses Kirito because of Asuna pulling him away, Klein and Connie got hurt in the process while K.O.B was dealing with the boss. Kirito was unconscious and unable to do anything. Klein refused that K.O.B was going to finish the boss off. so when it went into berserk mode, he got in front of it. And was making swift streaks on it's chest and it eventually died, with Klein getting the the most EXP for killing it off. K.O.B did nothing to help and left without saying anything.

 **1 HOUR LATER**

Kirito woke up in an inn with Asuna crying over him. "W-what happened Asuna?" She glared at him and responded with two words: "We won"

 **Sorry if the end was kinda cheesy- give me some slack I was running out of ideas. Stay tuned for floor three :)**


	3. Floor 1: Cows' Counter Attack

**I'm going to change it up a bit, make things a bit more entertaining ;) Enjoy!**

"Ugh I'm starving. Why couldn't SAO give us something good to eat that last days of our lives." Kirito complained "Well there's a quest on floor 1. The reward is cream, it makes that stale bread taste better" Asuna suggested "AHA! Quests! Will you guys come with me?" Kirito asked "No, I've got too.. uh... Raid the dungeon! With my pals.. Uhhh... Jeffrey and Bob. Yeah woo haven't seen them in a while!" Asuna lied. "And ME is As too drUnCK to go.. on advenchure..." Klein said while stroking the door frame. "Fine, but don't expect me to be on your side when you need some of MY gourmet _cream_." Kirito bragged as he walked out the door. "Yeah, let's just see about that." Asuna said as Kirito left.

 **Floor 1 Quest: Cows' Counter Attack**

 _Let's see here,_ Kirito thought as he opened up his menu _Where is this quest hmmm..._ "ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE MAP?!" He yelled along with his rumbling stomach that was protesting the long wait. "Ughh." _Wait! I have a brilliant ide- wait never mind. No one would ever scream movie references till their dreams came true. It was a good idea though.. Whatever, My tiny brain gives up, I'm walking._

 **1 HOUR LATER**

"Ugh finally, geez this cream better be good" Kirito sighed as he walked up to a Chinese looking guy. "Hello is this where Cows' Coun-" Kirito was cut off by the Chinese looking guy "Hello my name is Bingwen I need your help swordsman." Kirito looked at him with a dead stare "What do you need help wi-" "A boar ate all my food at my shop." Bingwen then looked up at Kirito and saw that he was burning up with anger. Kirito thought to himself. _I'm getting mad at an NPC but fuck, these things are annoying._ "Fi-" Kirito was cut off again "The boar went that way." "GOD DAMN IT" Yelled Kirito, he started walking toward the way he pointed _Oh my God, I'm never doing this again_ thought Kirito as he shuffled down his path.

 **15 MINUTES LATER**

"Geez where is this boar? And why is it a boar? I can kill those things in like one strike of a blade." Kirito said to himself then, all of the sudden a fallen boar blocked the Rocky path! _Wait is this a second mini boss? Hmmm_ Kirito was too distracted thinking the boar charged at him, and his health dropped into the yellow. "Argh! All right boar! You don't mess with me!" Kirito yelled as he charged at the monster while having a sword skill activated, swiftly slashing through the boar's skin. Bringing a health bar down on the two that the monster had. "Alrighty, one more attack and you're finished!" He yelled with another flesh ripping attack activated. "Have a taste of humanity!" Kirito screamed whilst ripping through it's skin. It was a strong enough attack to kill the fallen boar, shattering into a million pieces. "Phew! I better head back before it gets dark." Kirito said as he got back to Bingwen. "Thank you very much! Here, have this cream, it can be used on bread, and tastes really good on desserts." Bingwen explained, though Kirito left before Bingwen could explain how his grandmother came up with the recipe while on the toilet...

 **1 HOUR LATER**

Once Kirito got back he found Klein asleep on the floor, with seven beer bottles around him. And Asuna asleep in her room. _Jeez it's like 10:00 in the morning why are they sleeping?! Whatever I'm going to use some of this cream._ Kirito goes down the stairs to the cafe in the inn. "Hey, I'd like three stale pieces of bread please!" Kirito asked the cafe owner. "You betcha!" The owner said with a smile. Kirito bought the stale, crusty dusty bread and put cream on it. He gave two of the pieces of bread to Asuna and Klein. Asuna thanked Kirito and thought _Hmm maybe he's not as crazy as I thought he was_. Klein obviously did not wake up, so Kirito just laid it on his head. When Kirito got to his own room and took a bight. His expression then immediately changed. "THIS WAS SO WORTH IT!"


	4. Floor 3

**Hello people I don't know. This is floor 3. Hope you like it!**

"Oh my God Kirito! That cream! It's so good! Y'know, we should do more quests! Everyone is so focused on getting out of here they forget to do the quests!" Asuna yelled as she stuffed her face with the bread. _Wait, but if I do quests, I have to have more annoying NPCs... Shit.._ Kirito thought. "Yeah I'll do a quest every once in awhile!" Kirito lied with a smirk. "Alright! Kirito, I need to show you something on floor two." She announced. Kirito responded with "Okay" but was panicking in the inside. _"_ Klein, I think you should stay here, you don't look too good." Klein just laid there. "Should we get him some help?" Kirito questioned Asuna. "No, he'll be fine."

 **Floor 2: In the labyrinth**

Asuna firmly stood in one place and pointed to the ground. "Yesterday, a man died here. He was killed by a group of three men that call themselves 'Laughing Coffin' and they seem to be killing a lot of people." Asuna explained with a serious expression. "Well, fuck. Now we have another problem in this death game. Who knew murderers liked VR?" Kirito joked with a grin "Kirito! You're seriously careless enough to joke about this stuff?!" Asuna yelled. "We need to stop these guys before they do anymore damage! Stay here I'm go in going to gather some people in town to find these guys and stop Laughing Coffin. You stay here and keep on guard." Asuna explained. "Okay. But if I die, I'm going to be haunting you." Kirito mocked. When Asuna left, Kirito couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.

 **10 MINUTES LATER**

Jeez, where is this women? Kirito suddenly felt a push on his shoulder and fell on the ground. He tried to get up, but couldn't. He was paralyzed! _Oh shit.. This is the end all my bad karma has led up to this moment._ He thought. Then an odd voice came from out of his vision. "What should we do with him boss?" There was a period of silence and then a respond. "I've got this." said another voice. Then three men with ragged cloaks step into Kirito's field of vision _That's Laughing Coffin!_ _Yep, I am totally dead here._ Kirito thought. But his thoughts were quickly interrupted with being impaled by a sword. His health quickly decreasing to the yellow and then to the red. Kirito struggled to stay alive trying to pull the sword out of him. Two of the men are grinning, and the other one is sitting there with a straight face. Asuna then sees what is going on in the distance and starts charging at them with her Rapier. They immediately take the sword out of Kirito and start running. Asuna stops to help Kirito and uses a potion that she bought in town to help him regain his health. Once he reaches 100 HP they start running for the Laughing Coffin too.

 **5 MINUTES LATER**

Kirito and Asuna caught one of the Laughing Coffin members, he was being sent back to town. The other two were still on the run. "Are you okay Kirito?! You almost died back there!" Asuna yelled into Kirito's face."Ugh, hey, well at least I'm not dead! Or are you going to shame me?" Kirito mocked. "Oh please, it's not like I'm going to kill you! How did they get you on the ground? You're in the front lines!" Asuna questioned. "They paralyzed me. It seems like that's how they kill the people." Kirito explained. "Let's get home I don't want to leave Klein alone for a long time. You never know what he could do." Asuna informed.

 **Floor 3: The inn**

"Ah, inn sweet inn." Kirito said as he opened the inn door. "I wouldn't even call it an inn, this place is in worst shape than reality TV shows!" Asuna joked. "Well Klein is still knocked out." Kirito laughed. "Don't be so rude!" Asuna smiled with a laugh. "It's not like I was lying!" Kirito said with a smile. "Anyway I have to go do something with Connie in the labyrinth. She said she wanted to find the boss. You want to come?" Asuna asked. "Nah, I decided to take a break from fighting for a while." Kirito explained. "You betcha!" Asuna exclaimed.

 **1 HOUR LATER**

Asuna came back with a terrified look on her face. "Asuna?! What's wrong?!" Kirito exclaimed. Asuna hugged him and started breaking down in tears. "So many people.. Died.." Asuna said in tears. "Hey, it's okay you beat the boss right? Now, we can go on floor three." Kirito said. "Too many people.. Died." Asuna said, still traumatized. "It's okay, at least you're alive and well." Kirito said. Asuna got up and went to her inn room. _Dang it Kayaba! I'm going to beat this game if it's the last thing I do!_


	5. The Army of Unknown Beings

**Waddup, I've been in New York so I haven't been able to post a chapter for awhile (Plus sunburn) So, welcome back to the thingy... Enjoy! Sorry for the cringe I develop though.**

 **8:00 PM Floor 4**

"God damn it" Kirito mumbled "These dickhead monsters keep getting harder and harder, us players have no chance!" Kirito realized he's been grinding for the whole day. "Man, I should pack up and leave, but then again I'm almost level 15- eh, I'll stay a little longer-"

 **8:30 PM Floor 4**

"Where in the hell have you been Kirito!? You've been gone the whole day!" Asuna yelled. "Geez! Calm down I've been grinding! It's not like I sleep all day till you get mad, causing you to throw me down the stairs." Kirito sarcastically said, "Well it's not my fault you won't get your ass out of bed!" Asuna yelled back, causing them to get into an argument about what's better pears or apples.

 **8:40 PM Floor 4**

"Great now we're kicked out of the inn for being too loud!" Asuna yelled. "Hey have you seen Klein?" Kirito responded trying to change the subject. "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you he said he needs to join his friend's guild instead." Asuna explained "Ah, that sounds like something Klein would do." Kirito joked. "You should come and exp grind with me in the labyrinth!" Kirito exclaimed "More grinding are you kidding me? You've been killing those monsters all day!" Asuna remarked "Wait! Sh shh sh.. I think I hear a chicken... Bock bock bock. BOOCK!" Kirito joked "Geez! fine I'll go to your little fucking labyrinth! Dickhead.

 **9:00 PM Floor 4 Labyrinth**

As they grinded for about ten minutes they stumble across a huge open room with a huge door on the other side. "Asuna I think we found the boss room." Kirito said "You think? this has to be it!" Asuna exclaimed with excitement "Wait- what's that" pointing at a line of what seems to be monsters. "it looks like it's coming at us" Asuna said "Wait- oh God! That's an army Asuna! Run!" Kirito exclaimed "What do you think they are!?" Asuna asked as they were running "I don't know and I'm not going to bother them!" Kirito responded

 **9:13 PM Floor 3, Inn**

"Holy hell! What do you think that was!?" Kirito asked. "I don't know but it was definitely an army of some sort!" Asuna said. "Well I think we should stay inside for now." Kirito said

 **Sorry for the short chapter, I was getting really bored**


End file.
